That flattering light.There is a story of a young girl who saved herself from a herd of elephants. She turned left, when they turned right. “It wasn’t just by chance,” her mother recalled. “She knew that elephants leave the same way they came in.”

I suppose that’s true for humans as well. It reminds me of a quote by Maya Angelou, “When people show you who they are, believe them.”  Now the easy lesson would be just about the so-called “others.” And it’s an important one to learn, for sure. But I also want to be aware of the same, when it comes to myself.

People often say, when caught in a certain situation, acting in an unbecoming way, “Well, that’s not really me.” The truth is, if you do it, it is. But, I’m still a believer. For them. For me. It doesn’t mean that change is impossible, it means, most of us, most of the time, just don’t do it. We stomp our big gray feet in and out, in the same way. 

I wasn’t even sure where I would find the hope in this story, until I started typing. But when I saw it, the word, it became so clear. Unbecoming. By definition, it is unflattering. So the opposite would have to be — “become.” We, I, have to stop doing things for the mere reason of “well, that’s the way we’ve always done it.” We CAN change. We CAN become. If we want to. I want to. Whether it’s the way I came in, or not, I’m going to keep walking toward, and one day in, that flattering light. I will become.